The Mylan-Abbott Inversion Deal is Still on… but With Some Changes

By

Maureen Farrell

Oct 22, 2014 3:15 pm ET

AbbVie may have called off its $54 billion acquisition of Shire last week, but another deal structured as a tax inversion looks like it will go on. The deal in the spotlight now: Mylan’s $5.3 billion acquisition of part of Abbott Laboratories’ generic drugs business.

Analysts and investors seem to believe that tweaking the deal is a sign that it will still happen, but they needed some reassuring, since shares in both drug makers fell after the changes were disclosed. Perhaps investors recall that AbbVie execs insisted their deal with Shire would proceed but then two weeks later, changed their minds.